In this series we will take a look at museums and galleries, but not in terms of content, but from an architectural point of view. There are real jewels, and on the proposal of my friend and habitual collaborator Shirley Rebuffo I'll publish images and information on the construction and characteristics of buildings that house the collections of this art that we love and that from this blog we help to spread day by day .

As a general line, we will go through museums that we have personally visited.

To begin the series, a look at the beautiful Oscar Niemeyer Museum (MON) in Curitiba, Brazil, with text and images prepared by Shirley.

Concluded with its annex in 2003, known locally as the "Museum of the Eye" (Portuguese: Museu do Olho), the Oscar Niemeyer Museum is located in the city of Curitiba, State of Paraná, Brazil.

The institution focuses on the visual arts, architecture and design. Due to its grandeur, beauty and importance of the collection, it currently represents a cultural institution with national and international projection. Its design combines straight lines and curves, cement and green areas, neutral and color.

It has about 35 thousand square meters of built area and more than 17 thousand square meters of exhibition area with a total of 12 exhibition halls. Each year the Museum holds more than 20 exhibitions and receives a number of more than 300 thousand visitors. It is considered the largest museum in Latin America.

It has a multidisciplinary team, whose objective is to gather and improve the experience of the visitors with the visual arts. It has the sector of daily educational action that serves students, teachers and general public, offering courses and open workshops.

Chosen as one of the 20 most beautiful museums in the world (from the architectural point of view), it was one of the most challenging buildings for the Paranaense engineering. It opened on November 22, 2002. The works were in charge of the construction company Cesbe SA, and 5,226 cubic meters of concrete supplied by Concrebras were used. "The construction of the museum presented two main challenges: technicians, since it is a project signed by Oscar Niemeyer, and the construction period, which was limited to six months, when it would normally be twelve to fifteen months," recalls the civil engineer who directed the project, Marco Antonio Stavis.

According to Stavis, the Oscar Niemeyer Museum has everything sophisticated in architecture and construction. "So we surrounded ourselves with technical and traditional suppliers from Cesbe, who provided us with their experience and quality." The entire process of the work was audited by the experienced civil engineer, former professor of the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR), Odenir Müller, well-known consultant in prestressed structures. "In addition the other engineers involved had great experience and were fully involved in the project. The final result was achieved with the fundamental contribution of the professionals José Carlos de Castro, Roniel Somavilla and Antonio Hilario de Sa Freire, also from Cesbe", Marco Antonio Stavis says.

The structures of the Museum were molded "in situ", with the exception of the pre-roof, which came pre-fabricated to operate as lower molds. Cement with different specific strengths, ranging from 25.0 to 40.0 MPa, were used. As the project specified a maximum water / cement ratio of 0.50, the use of CP-32 type cement (Portland pozzolana cement) with low heat of hydration, combined with multifunctional additives and superfluidificant third generation was chosen. "The technological control of the concrete showed excellent results in the tests, reaching the mark of 50.9 MPa. The results confirmed the excellent quality of the materials used, mainly Itambé CP V-ARI RS cement, which resulted in a structure that will have a useful life superior to the 300 years ", says the engineer responsible for the project.

Marco Antonio Stavis reports that during the construction period, the work was intensively visited by engineering and architectural professionals as well as students. "It was necessary to establish a system of guided tours on Saturdays, because of the large number of people who wanted to see the building," recalls the engineer, who in 2002 was awarded the Paraná IEP Ingeniería (Paraná Engineering Institute) trophy in the modality of construction, for his work in the Museum.

The photographic exhibition "Museum under construction", by Nani Gois, portrays the beginning of the New Museum, which later became the Oscar Niemeyer Museum. His strength, beauty and courage are present in the photographer's images.

The people who built the museum left some of it here, and the people who are here every day help in that building every day. That dedication made MON a dream come true. Here, the propagation of the art universe creates a unique and special narrative, which is already part of our history.

Foto / Photo: Nani Góis

Nani Gois is a Brazilian photographer born in Sertanópolis, State of Paraná, in 1952.

In 1974 he began his career as a photojournalist in the newspaper Panorama de Londrina. During the following three years he worked as a freelance for the newspapers Placar, Jornal do Brasil and O Globo. In 1997 he worked as a photographer in the Printing Office of the Prefecture of Londrina, and in 1978 in Folha de Londrina. Between 1979 and 1992 he was a photographer of Veja magazine in his Curitiba branch, and between 1986 and 1987 in São Paulo. In 1993 he entered the branch of Folha de Londrina, where he remained for a year, until he received an invitation to photograph the campaign of governor Jaime Lerner. Return to Veja in late 1994, this time as a freelance. Between 1995 and 1996, he worked in the communication department of the Prefecture of Curitiba, and between 1997 and 2002 in the government communication department in the State of Paraná.

He currently publishes a weekly page about photography in the newspaper O Estado de Paraná, and works as a freelance photographer, focusing his work on the dissemination of tourism in Paraná. He received the Nikon Photography Award in 1982 and the Face Award of the Americas in the United States, 1983.

Oscar Ribeiro de Almeida Niemeyer Soares Filho was a Brazilian architect born in 1907.

Follower and great promoter of the ideas of Le Corbusier, is considered one of the most influential personages of the modern international architecture. He was a pioneer in the exploration of the constructive and plastic possibilities of reinforced concrete.

Among his main architectural projects, the construction of Brasilia as the new capital of his country during the 1960s was notable. Niemeyer was the main responsible for some iconic public buildings in the city, such as the Brazilian National Congress, the Brasilia Cathedral, the Planalto Palace and the Alvorada Palace. He was also one of the main responsible for the team that designed the Headquarters of the United Nations in New York.

"It is not the oblique angle that attracts me, nor the straight, hard, inflexible line created by man. What attracts me is the free and sensual curve, the curve I find in the mountains of my country, in the sinuous course of its rivers, in the waves of the sea, in the body of the preferred woman. The universe is curved, the curved universe of Einstein. » Oscar Niemeyer

Shirley Rebuffo has a Degree in Library Science and a Degree in Archivology by the Universitary School of Library and Related Sciences, Technician in Museology by the Faculty of Humanities and Sciences (Anthropology option) (Republic University Montevideo, Uruguay) and is art and painting student under Master Eduardo Espino.

This is an open art blog, so you could find images eventually offensive or umconfortable.

If you're an artist and find here images of your art you want to be removed, just tell me and I'll do it immediately. I try to ask for permission always if artist is alive and there's a way to contact, bot not always is possible and there are things I think worth to be known.

In any case, the copyrights of all the images contained in this blog, except where noted, belong to the artists or the legal owners of such rights, and have been published nonprofit and for the only purpose of make the works known to the general public.

Enjoy "El Hurgador", make any comment you like (respecting artists, other visitors and myself), make suggestions, critics, leave your opinions and make your contributions. Always welcome.